Box Score #1 Concordia-St. Paul 3 #3 Wayne State 1

            In a matchup featuring two of the top three teams in NCAA Division II college volleyball, #1 Concordia-St. Paul rallied to defeat #3 Wayne State 20-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-22 in Northern Sun Conference volleyball Friday evening before a crowd of 1,224 at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  WSC falls to 22-4 on the year and 14-3 in the NSIC while Concordia-St. Paul moves to 21-4 overall and 15-2 in league play.
            The first set saw WSC take an early 7-4 advantage, the biggest lead for either team in the set that featured 10 ties and four lead changes. 
            The visiting Golden Bears battled back and took a pair of two point leads until WSC caught fire late in the set to pull away for the 25-20 win.
            Trailing 19-17, WSC used a Katie Hughes kill, a Golden Bear attack error and two straight kills from Alyssa Frauendorfer for a 21-19 lead.  The 'Cats then forced back-to-back attack errors by Concordia-St. Paul for a 23-19 lead and finished off the set with another Frauendorfer kill to win 25-20.
            Concordia-St. Paul stormed back in the second set, posting a .390 attack percentage with 18 kills and two attack errors to down the Wildcats 25-22.
            WSC built an early 6-3 lead in the second set.  However, the Golden Bears scored six of the next eight points and took the lead for good at 9-8 on a Taylor Dordan service ace. 
            Down 23-19, WSC got within two at 23-21 on back-to-back kills by Frauendorfer before the Golden Bears won the set 25-22.
            The Golden Bears controlled the third set winning 25-14.  CU hit .314 while forcing seven Wildcat attack errors holding WSC to a .091 attack percentage.
            Concordia-St. Paul built a big lead in the fourth set, then held off a late WSC rally for a 25-22 set win to take the match 3-1.
            Trailing 23-17, the 'Cats used kills by Elizabeth Gebhardt and Frauendorfer along with consecutive blocks to get within two at 23-21 and force a Concordia-St. Paul timeout. 
            The Golden Bears then responded with their own block and used a Wildcat service error to complete the match win.
            Concordia-St. Paul hit .253 in the match to Wayne State's .188.  The Golden Bears topped the Wildcats in kills (62-53), digs (93-87) and blocks (12-8) while also recording six service aces to Wayne State's two.
            Senior Katie Hughes produced 15 kills and 25 digs for her 14^th double-double of the season.  Junior Alyssa Frauendorfer also had 15 kills followed by Elizabeth Gebhardt with 11.  Frauendorfer had five blocks for the 'Cats with Gebhardt and Michaela Mestl adding four apiece.  
            Senior libero Courtney VanGroningen led the Wildcat defense with 26 digs followed by Hughes with 25 and Mestl 20.  Senior Leisa McClintock was credited with 43 set assists. 
             Wayne State will be in action again Saturday afternoon hosting Minnesota State in a 4 p.m. match at Rice Auditorium.